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Confidentiality between patients and providers
Continuing education is important for a professional nurse
Continuing education is important for a professional nurse
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Nurses have many daily duties throughout their strenuous schedule, however the administration of medication to patients is of the up most importance since errors could result in death. Many safety and quality issues have surfaced since then the, To Err Is Human: Building a safer Health System, was released in 2000 (Maurer, 2000). A nurse must take this responsibility seriously, while needing to possess qualities that ensure accuracy and integrity during the administration process (Reid-Searl, 2010). To aid in the barriers that have been set in place throughout the administration process involves more health care professionals than just the nurse (Ross, 2008). Since medication errors happen even though safeguards are implemented throughout the …show more content…
However, the reasons regarding these errors can be improved the truth is that errors do occur, and that is tragic although solutions can be made. Some factors contributing to these errors include polypharmacy, constant interruptions while medication preparation or administration is being conducted, along with under reporting incident slips which lead to future errors of the same nature since correction did not occur (Anderson, 2011). The nurse has a responsibility to progress improvements in risks that could impact patient safety by reporting any and all ineffective protocol that has been applied. However, this may not be completely followed through by the nurse due to fear of disciplinary action, guilt, liability of lawsuits, along with having lack of recognizing a medication error or an anonymous error-reporting system (Anderson, 2011). As many more safety and quality problems have surfaced over time some improvements have been created to secure patient safety, yet these improvements are also constant analysis to fine tune any future breaks in the …show more content…
The thinking this abundance is to educate those in the nursing career by evidence based practice improvements. This is important since nurses are the final defense in the process, and that forty percent of their work day revolves around medication administration (Karavasiliadou & Efstratios, 2014). Being the last step in this process a nurse must maintain a keen eye, sharp mind, and pay attention to detail to eliminate hazards. A nurse that understands individual and organizational risk factors can realize errors by keeping constant vigilance through the medication delivery (Karavasiliadou & Efstratios, 2014). This is the logic of constant stress of medication error education and awareness is at the forefront whether the nurse be a novice or
For my research paper, I will be discussing the impact of medication errors on vulnerable populations, specifically the elderly. Technology offers ways to reduce medication errors using electronic bar-coding medication administration (BCMA) systems. However, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are not using these systems. Medication is still administered with a paper or electronic medication administration record (eMAR), without barcode scanning. In contrast, every hospital I have been in: as a patient, nursing student, and nurse uses BCMA systems. The healthcare system is neglecting the elderly. Nursing homes should use BCMAs to reduce the incidents of medication errors.
...estions if not 100% sure of something or use a double checking system. When a nurse is administrating medication, they should use the ten rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right route, right time, right dose, right documentation, right action, right form, right response, and right to refuse). Nurses should always keep good hand hygiene and always wear appropriate clothing to prevent from the spread of disease. Good communication with patients and healthcare team members is also key to success. Keeping on the eye on the patient within an appropriate time is important. If the patient ever seems to be looking different than their usual self vitals should be taken immediately. Encouraging patients to ask questions if they are unaware of something can prevent errors as well. Nurses should make sure the patient is on the same page as they are.
Medication errors in children alone are alarming, but throw an ambulatory care setting into the mix and it spells disaster. When it comes to children and medication in the ambulatory care setting, the dosage range is drastically out of range compared to those that are treated in the hospital setting (Hoyle, J., Davis, A., Putman, K., Trytko, J., Fales, W. , 2011). Children are at a greater risk for dosage errors because each medication has to be calculated individually, and this can lead to more human error. The errors that are occurring are due to lack of training, dosage calculation errors, and lack of safety systems. Medication errors in children who are receiving ambulatory care can avoided by ensuring correct dosage calculation, more in-depth training of personal and safety systems in place.
Hospital medical errors can involve medicines (e.g., wrong drug, wrong dose, bad combination), an inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis, equipment malfunction, surgical mistakes, or laboratory errors. High medical error rates with serious consequences occurs in intensive care units, operating rooms, and emergency departments; but, serious errors that harmed patients may have prevented or minimized. Understand the nature of the error
Over the past several years extended work shifts and overtime has increased among nurses in the hospital setting due to the shortage of nurses. Errors significantly increase and patient safety can be compromised when nurses work past a twelve hour shift or more than 40 hours a week. Hazardous conditions are created when the patient acuity is high, combined with nurse shortages, and a rapid rate of admissions and discharges. Many nurses today are not able to take regularly scheduled breaks due to the patient work load. On units where nurses are allowed to self-schedule, sixteen and twenty-four hour shifts are becoming more common, which does not allow for time to recover between shifts. Currently there are no state or federal regulations that restrict nurses from working excessive hours or mandatory overtime to cover vacancies. This practice by nurses is controversial and potentially dangerous to patients (Rogers, Hwang, Scott, Aiken, & Dinges, 2004). Burnout, job dissatisfaction, and stress could be alleviated if the proper staffing levels are in place with regards to patient care. Studies indicate that the higher the nurse-patient ratio, the worse the outcome will be. Nurse Manager’s need to be aware of the adverse reactions that can occur from nurses working overtime and limits should be established (Ford, 2013).
Most undergraduate nursing students are not being properly educated on proper medication administration. Clinical instructors and registered nurses need to be updated on medication administration reporting, so students do not develop bad habits when they become registered nurses. Registered nurses must also continue their education on med error prevention to prevent future errors. Another significant problem with registered nurses was that they did not have positive attitudes when reporting an error. Once these negative attitudes were changed, more errors were reported (Harding & Petrick, 2008). The three main problems that cause medication errors...
Some method such as audits, chart reviews, computer monitoring, incident report, bar codes and direct patient observation can improve and decrease medication errors. Regular audits can help patient’s care and reeducate nurses in the work field to new practices. Also reporting of medication errors can help with data comparison and is a learning experience for everyone. Other avenues that has been implemented are computerized physician order entry systems or electronic prescribing (a process of electronic entry of a doctor’s instructions for the treatment of patients under his/her care which communicates these orders over a computer network to other staff or departments) responsible for fulfilling the order, and ward pharmacists can be more diligence on the prescription stage of the medication pathway. A random survey was done in hospital pharmacies on medication error documentation and actions taken against pharmacists involved. A total of 500 hospital were selected in the United States. Data collected on the number of medication error reported, what types of errors were documented and the hospital demographics. The response rate was a total of 28%. Practically, all of the hospitals had policies and procedures in place for reporting medication errors.
The Medication Administration Accuracy Project is a quality improvement project, whose purpose is to improve the accuracy of nursing medication administration. The study used for this project was to find where the most common “wrong doings” happened in the medication process and how to get rid of it. After a year of this project the medication error percent went from 4.3% in 2010 to 1.2% in 2011. The Bar Code Administration System implementation had been very successful with a 95% success rate every year that it is done. The study provided important insight on reducing the medication errors in children. Some were: making sure there are no distractions as possible, double checking medications and making sure the dose in adequate range for the child, and making sure you have two ways of identification with the bar code scanning (Hardmeier, A., Tsourounis, C., Moore, M., Abbott, W., Guglielmo, J.
Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.
Ethical dilemmas are the issues that nurses have to encounter everyday regardless of where their workplaces are. These problems significantly impact both health care providers and patients. Patient safety is the most priority in nursing and it can be jeopardized by a slight mistake. Medication errors and reporting medication errors have been major problems in health care. Errors with medications have been found to be the most common cause of adverse drug effects (Brady, Malone, Fleming, 2009). Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago conducted a research in 2012 that approximately forty percent of the hospitalized clients have encountered a medication error (Lahue et al., 2012). A nurse’s role is to identify and report these medication errors immediately in order to stop or minimize any possible harm to the patients. Ethical moral dilemmas arise when reporting the mistakes that have been made by one’s own colleagues, acquaintances, peers, or physicians.
Tzeng, H., Yin, C., & Schneider, T. E. (2013). Medication Error-Related Issues In Nursing Practice. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(1), 13-50.
O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.
Baccalaureate nurses are responsible for providing and ensure our patients safety. The knowledge from others mistakes can help informs nurses of extra precautions that we can take to ensure our patient’s safety. Risk Analysis and Implication for practice course helped me understand the steps I as a nurse can take as well as the facilities I work for to help reduce the number of medication errors that occur. Interviewing the pharmacist help me get a better insight to what facilities already have in place to help prevent medication errors. However like most things you have to have educated and compassionate caring staff to enforce and follow the guidelines set in place.
In the healthcare industry, nursing errors exemplify a serious public health dilemma and present a critical threat to the safety of patients. The IOM [1] (Institute of Medicine) report entitled “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System”, suspected that between 45,000-98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors. This report induced arguments in the medical community of how to decrease nursing errors and increase patient safety in the best way possible.
Improving patient safety at the bedside has become a priority concern in many healthcare delivery system today. A major component of quality in healthcare now places emphasis on reducing error at every stage of patient care. It has been estimated that 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors that could have been prevented. Medication errors have been recognized as a major cause of patient harm in healthcare services. Despite significant progress in health care systems, nursing errors in medication administrations have a huge responsibility for mortality and morbidity of thousands of people each year and an increase the healthcare related cost. Safe and accurate medication administration is therefore an important and potentially